Broad Influence: How Women Are Changing the Way America Works

Newton-Small (Washington correspondent, Time Magazine) argues that in most milieus women have reached the "critical mass" of 20 to 30 percent needed to be heard and to advance women's welfare and opportunities. She bases this view upon more than 200 interviews with women in Congress, private business, the military, and other environments. The author contends that women have innate qualities, such as the preference for consensus, that make their leadership style different from that of men, but in many ways more effective. Women still face obstacles of invisibility, harassment, and disdain, to name but a few. Moreover, aware of their still-shaky status, women still exhibit deferential behavior: they hesitate to speak up at meetings or to take credit for their ideas and they worry over their appearance. The author notes with surprise that the government offers more parity than private employers (it was always so), and she invests her hope in the millennial generation to eliminate the barriers that remain.